F.C. Belize defeats B.D.F. in football action

Good evening I’m James Adderley and we welcome you to this edition of Sports Monday.

We get our first look at the Belize Defence Force this football season as they took to the M.C.C. Grounds yesterday to face the defending champion F.C. Belize in week II of the R.F.G. Insurance Cup Tournament.

The Military certainly gets off to a quick start and indeed should have opened the scoreboard on this left foot service from Deon “Pussy” Flowers.

A few minutes later Flowers gets the chance to do the job himself but the ball inches outside the far upright.

We’re thirty-three minutes into the ballgame when Mark “Kello” Leslie serves this floater into the danger zone – Jeromy James catches up with it and the header gives F.C. Belize a 1-zip lead.

James celebrates by taking a dive on the very soggy M.C.C. Grounds.

Ten minutes later James pulls up on this pass – his miss kick allows him to beat Charlie Slusher and smacks the ball into an empty goal to give F.C. a 2-zip lead going into intermission.

In second half the B.D.F. gets this chance to halve the deficit only to see the crossbar intervene.

At the other end Pelayo bids to increase the F.C. lead with this beauty but it inches over the crossbar.

In the meantime Jeromy James looks to make it a hat trick after beating the B.D.F. defence but the left upright and Charlie Slusher collaborate to deny him the opportunity.

The military now looks for offence from off the set piece and Deon McCauley’s launch gets a deflection from the wall that forces the keeper into a big time save.

F.C. Belize goes on to post the 2-zip victory.

In other results from around the league Suga Boys Juventus spanked Santels 2 to 1 at Cayo; Hankook Verdes blanked the San Pedro Dolphins out at the Island while at Dangriga Wagiya issued a 3 to 1 blast on Georgetown Ibayani.

This week’s schedule looks like this: Georgetown Ibayani faces San Pedro at Independence and F.C. Belize plays host to Wagiya both Saturday games, while on Sunday Hankook Verdes gets a visit from the B.D.F. and Revolutionary Conquerors go up against Santels at Griga.

In other football news, action in the Sir George Brown U-15 Invitational Cup Tournament, 3rd World pounded Backatown in a 6 to 3 outing and we certainly commend the Lake I Community for its dedication to the sport.

Turning to the softball scene, we’re at Roger’s Stadium for the finals of the National Softball Tournament where the officials are concluding that the pitch is showing too much effects from yesterday’s downpour. B.T.L. would have gone in with a record of 3 win, 0 losses while lady Rebels arrived with 2 wins, 1 loss from the double elimination format that started out with six championship teams.

Here’s a quick look at these two Saturday night. We’re in the third inning when Ruth Lamb singles off Lanisha Jones.

Elaine Humes then comes up with a single of her own to move Lamb to third base.

Martha Rhys then slaps this hit to shallow left field – both Cacho and Humes score to add two more runs to the B.T.L. total.

Mary Flowers helps her cause with this fly to the outfield that’s misplayed – two more runs come in as B.T.L. goes on to post the 12 to 3 big W. So this championship is slated for 6:30 p.m. today. A win for the Rebels would force a decisive Game II so stay tuned.

In other softball news the fifth annual C.L.B. Rogers Memorial Tournament is slated for Sunday October 14th featuring Emeralds of Belmopan, the Sandhill Sluggers, Roaring Creek Grace Kennedy and the host team Lady Rebels.

In the meantime folks, all Inter-Office softball teams are reminded of the all important meeting at Rogers Stadium on October 10th at 7 p.m. sharp.

In cycling news, Giovanni Leslie, riding for Santino’s, won Saturday’s Burrell Boom Circuit race which measures fifty miles. He did it in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes, 3 seconds; he beat out Byron Pope of Benny’s Megabytes. Michael Lewis of Santino’s, Mateo Cruz of Santino’s and Ernest Meighan of Santino’s round out the top five.

We also want to remind you fans that the 3rd Annual By-Pass Criterion of cycling comes up on the 14 October at Orange Walk so stay tuned.

That’s it for now. We invite you back, same time, same place, next week. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.